One of the most common points of discussion we have with brands we talk to is that from their experience, or from what they have heard, selling products on Amazon can be fraught with problems. Whether that is selling directly to Amazon via a Vendor Account, selling the products themselves or selling through third parties, they have come across one problem or another.
Below, we have outlined some of the most common problems faced by brands.
More Sellers = More Sales…?
In a traditional retail environment, more sellers of your product around the country should increase sales. However, on Amazon, more sellers will not mean more sales. In fact, in the long run, it might mean less sales as those valued third party sellers who want to advertise your products are unable to do so because other sellers are winning the buy box (Amazon will not run ads unless the seller who is advertising has the buy box). What does increase sales is a strong listing with a good title, descriptive bullet points and descriptions and quality images. As you will see from the other points below, more sellers always means more headaches.
Race to the Bottom
Sellers competing for the buy box to gain sales will continually undercut each other until they hit their lowest possible price. This ultimately ends up damaging the brand in the long term if prices stay low as the customers will expect to be able to buy your product at the discounted price indefinitely. This will also hurt your offline sales and you could start getting complaints from your brick and mortar shops who then may even stop ordering.
Take a look at the graphs below for how an increase in sellers and the inevitable reduced prices actually meant less sales of this product.
As you can see, the sales rank (the green line where lower is better), increased over the 5 month period. The product was selling best when the product was at its RRP of £12.99.
Incorrect/Poor Product Information
No doubt you will have spent countless hours refining product descriptions, marketing material and taking quality product images only to visit Amazon to see your product being sold with woeful titles, product descriptions and images. This can cause customers to mis-trust the product as it does not look professional or in keeping with the brands style and image. As we’re sure you will agree, consistency across all platforms is key when it comes to the strength of your brand image.
Take a look at the difference we made to this product listing. Before we spoke with this brand, the company had updated their packaging over a year ago. Not one of their sellers thought to update their Amazon listing. Just 2 weeks after our initial discussion, we had updated the listing.
BEFORE
AFTER
Poor/Inconsistent Customer Service
If your product has received a negative review, your sellers should be replying to these with product knowledge based replies and ways they can help. Of course, because your current sellers don’t really care, they are not doing this or tracking your products for when negative reviews are left, so they just get left there. The customer who left the negative review will never buy your product/s again and potential customers can be deterred if they read this negative review. The review might be completely unjustified (as the customer might have been using the product incorrectly) but if nobody has responded to let them know this, anyone who reads it will think that it is the products fault.
Customers Think it is the Brand Who is Selling the Products
Due to the nature of Amazon and they way in which a purchase is conducted on Amazon, many buyers don’t realise they could be purchasing from a different buyer each time. Many customers believe that all products are either sold by Amazon or the brands themselves. So if they have a poor customer experience, they could end up blaming the brand directly. Therefore, working with a trusted third party seller who you have a good relationship with will and who will act with your best interests will help maintain and increase your brand image as a whole.
All of the problems listed above come as a result of having too many sellers and not having the right sellers. 99.99% of sellers on Amazon are there to just make a quick profit and don't care about the brands they are selling. If you work with a single valued and trusted seller, all these problems can be a thing of the past.
It may require patience initially to weed out the current sellers and stem the flow of products to them, but once everything is in place, Amazon headaches will be a thing of the past!
About ThrivePlaces
ThrivePlaces are Amazon Marketplace Specialists who help brands grow their sales through the platform. Unlike typical marketing agencies and consulting firms who can charge thousands for their work, we simply earn our income through reselling your products - this ensures that our interests are 100% aligned with yours.
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